Leaving boolits in mould

[cwlongshot]

No I dont

I wipe and brush them down with Mineral oil and store them in a tackle Box style case. NEVER a lick of corrosion. NEVER a problem re seasoning or cleaning before casting. 30/45 min on the hot plate as the pot warm and one or two blasts from my Brake Clean spray and Im making perfect bullets.

No need for leaving bullets in cav.

CW

[Harter66]

It's stated in the Lyman 43rd edition to leave the last pour in the mould .

In west central NV I had no rust issues. To such a degree that it took 10 weeks of the swamp cooler blowing across a new brass mould and dozens of casting runs to finally get decent bullets out of it .

West central Arkansas is a whole different train wreck . I had an event of some sort , shut off the pot and went to deal with whatever when I got back to clean up about 3 days I had haze on the mould and handles .

I've practiced a 50/50 approach to leaving a pour , half the time I remember not to dump the last pour . So far so good but all of my iron moulds are wrapped in VCI paper boxed or not and whether or not they have a pour left in them .

I've never gotten a mould with a pour left in it that had rust in the cavities even from areas of salt air . The last iron mould I bought was an H&G #130 8 cavity that looked like it had been in the cowl of a Deere in the back of a barn for about 15 yr . The guy selling just threw in the 8 perfect bullets and sprue lead no charge . 2 days later later it cleaned up fine . The handles are pitted , the wood dry rotted and fell apart . The mould itself was almost to scale rust and has some minor putting on the faces . One cavity may have a hint of frost . Just digest how long in the west it takes for wood to dry rot .......I've been in barns, stables , and mine shacks 100 years old with little if any dry rot , nails are rusted away and oil can shingles are just seams .
It casts +-.3 gr of 196 gr for all 8 and I really blame the operator for that . No clue where it actually came from or it's history.

I got an RCBS from Florida that had the last pour in it , in it's correct box , no rust there either . One of these days I need to open the nose a little on it .

I bought several old Ideal , Cramer , and Ohaus moulds . The Ohaus .540 SWCs , there were 2 and it was a 1 for 10 , 2/15 or gimme 25 for all 6 deal , were packed as new one had some pocking all over but the cavity was ok and the faces tight . The other was almost perfect with some "worm trails" on one corner . The other 4 were obviously used but showed no rust or significant damage .

4 years in the south with alternating drought and sweating concrete doesn't make for much of a 20 mould test . I think vapor wrap paper makes more difference than whether or not the last pore is left at this point.

[Mal Paso]

No I dont

I wipe and brush them down with Mineral oil and store them in a tackle Box style case. NEVER a lick of corrosion. NEVER a problem re seasoning or cleaning before casting. 30/45 min on the hot plate as the pot warm and one or two blasts from my Brake Clean spray and Im making perfect bullets.

No need for leaving bullets in cav.

CW

Heating some brake cleaners will cause them to break down into poisonous components. One member here was poisoned and posted. Maybe not a problem for your situation but I thought I should say something.

[deces]

I just store my molds with handles in a large popcorn tin. Pretty simple.

[Walks]

I've spent the majority of my life within 5 miles of the ocean. Dad taught me 60+yrs ago to oil molds Before storage. Still doing it.
Rust is Not a problem.

Have Never left bullets in mold cavities.

[Shopdog]

Our shop stays right at 50% humidity 24/7/365.

Moulds are put in either Lyman,or RCBS plastic mould boxes with a square piece of those desiccant chips(1x1" pieces). Lee's go back in factory box once cool. All live in a modest,albeit custom painted Cman lower mechanics cabinet. Rust just isn't on the menu......

We have a slew of classic trad bows,along with right much exotic wood inventory,along with dzs of big machine tools... more $$ at stake than 50 moulds.

[cwlongshot]

Heating some brake cleaners will cause them to break down into poisonous components. One member here was poisoned and posted. Maybe not a problem for your situation but I thought I should say something.

I have been doing this for decades. Casting fumes are dangerous. So its is ONLY A PROBLEM If your casting in an environment with poor ventilation. NO ONE SHOULD BE casting in/under poor ventilation!

CW

[uscra112]

Mal is correct, but it takes higher temperatures than our moulds operate at. However the temperature of molten lead is another story. Think on overspray that hits your pot.

High temperature breakdown products of chlorinated solvents such as Brakleen are so toxic that even good ventilation won't necessarily save you. One small whiff is enough to disable you. You have been warned.